Path of Dragons

Book 5: Chapter 38: King of the Hill

Sadie ducked beneath a horizontal club strike, then kicked out, crumpling the yeti’s leg at the knee. It howled in pain, collapsing sideways and directly into the path of her oncoming blade. The silvery metal of its armor – now dented and scratched – screeched as the Sword of the Morning bit into it, cutting through flesh and erupting in a spurt of pale blood.

But the monster did not die.

Despite Sadie’s exceptional Strength – it was the secondary focus of her class, after all – she found cutting into the yetis similar to hacking at a block of wood. It was possible to cut through, but only with great effort and proper technique. After drilling with the sword every day for the past five years – and learning jianshu as a child – she had the second part covered.

And spending effort had never been a question for her.

She turned her latest attack into a shoulder tackle that sent the off-balance monster tumbling down the slope of their pyramid of gathered dirt. It hit one of its fellows, creating a domino effect that took another two temporarily out of the fight. But Sadie couldn’t afford to watch them fall. Instead, the whole of her attention was occupied by the horde of yetis howling for her – and her charges’ – blood.

It wasn’t like the fight against the wraiths. There was no convenient funnel to minimize the yetis’ advantage in numbers. Having the high ground helped, but with the monsters’ superior intelligence – to the wraiths, at least – the groups’ previous tactics simply would not work. If they created a funnel, the yetis would simply go around or over. The wraiths, bestial as they were, hadn’t been capable of even that level of adjustment.

So, different enemies required different tactics, but no matter how they’d adapted their plans, Sadie knew that the yetis were a different level of threat altogether. Making that clear was that her companions – specifically Dat – had been forced to step up to the front lines and protect the others. He was a capable melee fighter, having spent some time training in vovinam before being sent to boarding school as a child, but he only had a couple of appropriate skills to back him up.

Seeing that her friend was on the verge of being overwhelmed, Sadie used Consecrated Shield.

It was the first spell she’d attained after gaining her Ardent Crusader class, and it had saved the lives of friends, family, and allies on multiple occasions. However, given their ballooning attributes, the forty-point increase in Constitution was beginning to become outdated. Perhaps if she could once again upgrade her Core – or evolve the spell – it would solve the issue.

But for now, that wasn’t a possibility, so, as she had since the very beginning of the apocalypse, she used the tools she had at her disposal. The shield she’d conjured around Dat manifested in a flash of golden light, blocking a club-strike a moment later. Ripples of ethera spread from the point of impact, but Consecrated Shield held, absorbing the momentum of the blow. Stunned by the ineffectiveness of its attack, the yeti was completely caught off-guard when Dat returned the blow with a lightning-fast series of strikes at the ends of his twin shortswords. Sadie knew a skill was at play, but she didn’t know the name. In any case, the results were immediate. Where Sadie’s attacks were met with plenty of resistance, Dat’s swift sword strikes sliced through the yeti’s armor with ease, eviscerating the creature’s armor as well as its flesh, spilling its intestines along the way.

The Witch Hunter ducked beneath a blow from another yeti attacker, but he couldn’t avoid the next one. It was a solid hit, and the club shattered Consecrated Shield, proving just how strong the creatures were. However, by that point, Sadie had reached Dat’s position, and she parried the next blow intended for her friend.

Still another came only a moment later, and this time, Sadie could only interpose herself between the Dat and the Yeti. The club hit her in the shoulder, flaring Bulwark of the Faithful.

Her personal shield held, but she knew it wouldn’t be long before it shattered as well. She almost welcomed it, looking forward to the increase in attributes that would hopefully put her on equal footing with the yetis. For now, though, her only recourse was to protect her companions at all costs. Her most recent attacker took an arrow to the eye, courtesy of the dwarven Sapper, before being hit by a bolt of lightning. A second later, she felt raindrops – a curious sensation, considering they were underground – that sent jolts of rejuvenation through her body.

Clearly, the Druid had not remained idle.

Not wanting to be seen to slack, Sadie dipped into her own Core and activated her second most powerful ability.

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It was a new ability – earned after the fight with the wraiths – and she’d only tested it on a few occasions, and not against any powerful foes. Instead, she’d used it on a few stray beasts that were clearly too low of a level to threaten her. So, she was eager to learn how effective it would be against real enemies.

Her eagerness was not misplaced.

She’d aimed the ability at one of the nearest yetis, so she had a great view of the enormous blade – it was at lest three feet across and, when it completely emerged from the ground, three times as long – as it tore completely through one of the yetis. The monster never even had a chance to dodge before it was bisected. Its two sides slid apart a second later, flopping to the ground with a wet and disgusting sound.

For a moment, Sadie was stunned, and if she hadn’t had Bulwark of the Faithful active, she might’ve been clubbed to death. But it only took a flash of light from her most important skill to banish her shock. She returned the attack with another cast of Blade of the Avenger, and to similar results.

She almost laughed at how easily she’d killed the powerful monsters.

But when she used it again, she realized that no skill came without a cost. The first two had dragged the exact same amount of ethera from her Core, and though it was not a negligible sum, it was one she could endure. However, the third time through tripled the combined amount of both of the previous casts. The meaning was clear. The spell didn’t have a cooldown, per se. But using it over and over again without ceasing would continue to escalate the cost, draining her Core quickly and completely.

Sadie had heard of such soft cooldowns, and she knew that it would eventually reset. But how long would it take? Without experimentation, she had no idea. So, she resolved to only use the ability in emergencies, at least until she had a better handle on how it all worked.

Yet, the three she’d killed – one with each cast of Blade of the Avenger – had shifted the momentum of the battle, allowing Dat and Kurik to use the brief period of shock to slay two other yetis. That was enough for Sadie to regain her footing and turn the tide of battle. Even so, there were still dozens of the monsters left, and each one was capable of laying waste to her entire party.

The yetis fought savagely, and without much in the way of technique. But where their expertise fell short, their armor picked up the slack. It protected them from attacks that would have otherwise killed them, shoring up their weaknesses without affecting their strengths.

For her part, Sadie continued to fight, using most of her toolkit to shield her allies and put down her enemies. However, her own deficiencies soon became apparent. Despite the name of her most recently acquired ability, she wasn’t meant to be some avenging angel. Instead, she was an ideal defender, and though she could leverage her high Strength to do some degree of damage, that definitely didn’t allow her to veer out of her lane.

If only Lisa had survived, then she would have the purest sort of damage dealer on her side. But her sister’s own deficiencies had been just as prominent as Sadie’s own, and they’d gotten her killed before anyone – even Nico – could save her. Not even Miracles could have helped.

Because that was the reality with most classes. Power came at a price. For her, it meant that her highly defensive abilities and powerful Constitution were balanced by the general lack of high damage spells. For Lisa, it had been the opposite. She could output an enormous amount of damage, but aside from the basic Ethereal Shield spell awarded to most mages, she lacked even the most basic defenses.

But for better or worse, everyone had to work with the tools they’d been given. Perhaps one day she could repair some of the glaring weaknesses in her skillset, but for now, she had few choices but to lean into her strengths and hope that everyone else did their jobs.

Fortunately, her companions had learned that same lesson. Even Elijah played his role, repairing any wounds the group incurred. He’d done the same during the battle atop the Singing Cliffs, but Sadie had wrongly assumed that it had been a one-time thing. Because if there was one thing she knew, it was that the Druid was no team player. With his situation, which included being stranded alone on a deserted island, he’d likely never had to be.

Or maybe that was his personality.

Regardless, he’d clearly resolved to stay in his defined lane, keeping everyone as close to peak health as he could manage. It was far from perfect, owing to the general weakness of his healing abilities – after all, Nico could do with one spell what it took Elijah three to accomplish – but he got the job done. That, in turn, allowed Sadie to forego using her own healing abilities, which were incredibly inefficient.

And of course, she didn’t have to tap into the well of power that was her Miracle. She would use it if necessary, but the insanely long cooldown meant that she wouldn’t get another chance anytime soon. So, she had resolved to hold it in reserve as a last resort.

The battle wore on, growing more hectic by the passing minute. Yet, there was an order to it, as well. To Sadie, it made sense. She saw the patterns of the yetis’ preferred attacks, as well as the flow of the battle. And as she fought, she subtly applied her thumb to the scale.

A Consecrated Shield here. A shoulder charge there. A vicious rush, where she fought like a berserk barbarian. She varied her attacks, adopting different tactics to manipulate the battlefield to her whims.

And for a while, it worked. The yetis remained off-balance, stymied at every turn by Sadie’s efforts. What wounds they inflicted were quickly healed by the Druid, and through it all, they incurred heavy damage from Kurik’s and Dat’s attacks. They’d already been weakened by the traps – as well as Elijah’s conjured insect swarm – so, for a while, Sadie thought the battle would go their way without complications.

But that was never possible.

There were too many yetis, and they were far too strong.

Gradually, the group got pushed back until they were fighting shoulder to shoulder as the monsters closed in. Dat was the first to fall. Having been forced into a melee where he could only use a third of his skills, he was ill-equipped for protracted hand-to-hand fighting. When a club took him in the head, he crumpled to the ground, unmoving.

Sadie’s heart seized, but she couldn’t spare any attention for her friend. Whether he was alive or dead wouldn’t make any difference. She didn’t have the ethera to heal him, and even if she did, the line had been broken. As a result, Kurik fell only a second later, his leg snapped in two by a vicious club strike he couldn’t dodge. From the ground, he fought on, but it was useless.

Sadie was just about to use her Miracle when Elijah shouted, “Sadie – I know you can heal. Keep me alive.”

She didn’t have a chance to respond before she felt ethera stir, and the Druid shifted into that hulking lizard-ape monstrosity he seemed to favor. She knew it was a last-ditch effort, but still, she resented that he would so blatantly deviate from the plan. Even so, Sadie prided herself on her adaptability – something that, when she said as much, always drew a laugh from Dat – so she used another of her long-cooldown abilities.

An image of a bell – barely visible – appeared above Sadie’s head. A moment later, it rang, the sound carrying with it more meaning than she could fathom. It was as if the cry of the gods themselves – if they existed – had fallen upon the mortal world. Sadie felt a jolt of energy, but more importantly, the yetis fell backward as if struck. Six seconds. That was how long it would last. After that, the creatures would recover.

Sadie was about to use her Miracle – it would doubtless turn the tide – but before she could, she felt a giant hand wrap around her waist. Something lifted her from her feet, and just like that, she found herself sailing through the air. A second later, she realized that Elijah – in his huge form – had picked her up and bounded away.

Glancing to the side, she saw that Dat’s limp form had been thrown over the Druid’s shoulder, and Kurik was gripped in Elijah’s other hand.

They landed a moment later, but they didn’t stop there. Instead, Elijah raced across the fields, aiming for their fallback location. It was a cave Dat had found, unsuitable for any extended defense, but good enough for a last stand. They’d hoped not to be forced to use it, but in the end, they’d all known it was more than a possibility.

The trip took only a couple of minutes, and in that time, Elijah clearly pushed himself to the peak of his capabilities, racing across the fields faster than she thought possible. When they finally reached the last bastion of their defense, he gently set his burden down and said, “Hold the line. Heal them if you can. I’ve already got Soothe on Dat, so he’s out of the woods. I can’t fix Kurik’s leg until we have time to set the bone. So, they’re both out of the fight.”

“What? You’re supposed to be the Healer.”

“Not anymore,” he said. “I’m going back out there to try to thin the pack. If I don’t come back…well, it was good knowing you, Sadie Song.”

With that, he left the cave behind, already shifting into a completely different form. This one looked like someone had crossed a great hunting cat with a chameleon, with a little bit of dragon thrown in for good measure. To call it an intimidating creature would have been a vast understatement.

Then, Elijah was gone. She wondered if he intended to abandon them. Perhaps, but as irritating as the Druid was, she didn’t think he would do that. Regardless, it couldn’t change anything about what she needed to do. So, without further thought, she turned to her wounded companions and used Blessing of Light, healing them as much as she could.